The Waikato War

The Tohu Maumahara (symbol of remembrance) at Rangiriri. Image: Heritage New Zealandexpand/collapse

For ten months during 1863-1864, the once-peaceful hills and plains of Waikato rang with battle cries and the boom of warships. At stake was some of the North Island’s most fertile farmland around the Waikato and Waipa rivers. When the smoke cleared, the British had seized more than one million acres of tribal territory, and the door open to Pākehā control of the North Island.

The Waikato War was a key conflict in New Zealand’s history and has had a lasting impact on Aotearoa, New Zealand. For years, Māori farmers in the Waikato region had prospered, growing much of the wheat, potatoes and maize that fed Auckland’s hungry settlers.

The colonial government was under pressure to find fertile land for the rising tide of immigrants. Waikato Māori, newly unified under their own king, resisted the idea of land sales.

A crushing British invasion followed, involving some 18,000 British troops that were posted at numerous locations in the Waikato and North Island – more than in any other of the New Zealand Wars. Māori forces could only field about 2,000 warriors during the campaign.

The impacts resulting from the invasion and confiscation of land caused catastrophic economic, social and cultural damage for Waikato Māori.

Today, you can still find haunting remnants of the war in the hillocks, gullies and riverbanks of the Waikato. Many stories from both sides are unresolved. Step onto the land and discover them today.

This was one of the best-prepared campaigns ever undertaken by the British army... (Belich 1986)